SAVAGES, BARBARIANS, CIVILIZED MEN
The Inscribing Socius
Universal History & Capitalism
The end stage of historical evolution is characterized by capitalism emerging as a dominant force, raising critical questions about where to locate the innocence necessary for generating a universal history. Desiring-production—conceptualized as the inherent and often unconscious desires that drive human behavior—exists from the very beginning, accompanying social production and reproduction. In contrast, capitalism decodes these primal flows of desire, supplanting existing codes with the abstraction of value represented by money, fundamentally altering the relationship between human needs and market dynamics.
Historical Ruptures and Capitalism's Role
Ruptures vs. Continuity
Universal history must be approached through the lens of capitalism's limits, revealing that its progression is contingent and not merely a linear continuity. Key historical accidents, such as the rise of commerce, exploration, and technological advancements, coupled with significant encounters among diverse cultures, were essential catalysts for the transition from preceding social codes into the capitalist framework.
Private Property & Commodity Production
The dual emergence of private property rights and commodity production creates profound disturbances in the coding of social relationships. This transformation provokes a fear that stems from the disruption of previously established desire flows, which looms as a significant threat to the societal order. The reconfiguration of property relations triggers conflicts and negotiations that shape the socio-economic landscape.
Social Machines & Their Evolution
Primitive Territorial Machines
Primitive territorial machines operate based on the encoding of production and the management of desires. They serve as vessels for collective memory and the preservation of traditions through the communal investment of desires and social organs. With capitalism's arrival, a more complex social machine emerges, presenting itself as autonomous while fundamentally depending on historical memory and reproductive structures.
Technical Machines vs. Social Machines
Technical machines are understood as extensions of human labor, while social machines play a pivotal role in organizing human relations and desire flows. The interrelationship between technical and social machines deepens under capitalism, where they increasingly influence each other, resulting in new forms of economic and social interactions.
Capitalism as a Dual Force
Functioning of Capitalism
Capitalism operates as a powerful decoding agent that simultaneously reestablishes new codes across various sectors, often framed within the dynamics of profit maximization and labor exploitation. The flows of capital in contemporary societal interactions illustrate patterns that reflect traces of earlier, primal formations, thus preserving elements of historical context in modern economic relations.
The Role of Desire
Desire's dynamics within society must be scrutinized, recognizing that it produces effects in conjunction with social machinery. While capitalism endeavors to decode desire flows, it concurrently necessitates a regulatory social framework that governs these economic exchanges. The relationship between social production and desiring-production is intricate, demonstrating a complex interdependence that informs how societal desires are addressed and shaped.
The Transition into Modernity
Impact of Modernity on Structures of Desire
The capitalist state plays a crucial role in reterritorializing desire flows while embodying and negotiating historical tensions and transformations trailing from earlier societal structures. This interplay provides a critical lens for understanding the conditions under which capitalism operates, highlighting the interplay of desire, repression, and the conditioning of societal norms. Emerging relationships between individual desires and collective frameworks become central in navigating the dynamics of capital and labor forces.
Oedipus as a Cultural Construct
The Concept of Oedipus
The Oedipus complex integrates personal and collective desires but simultaneously enforces societal configurations that constrain and determine personal identities. It represents both a psychological construct and a cultural commentary on societal values that shape familial roles and expectations. In this concept, the interplay of desire and identity highlights the broader implications of cultural narratives on individual behavior.
Crisis of Representation
When examining various historical lenses, the representation of the Oedipus complex elucidates behavioral and cultural expectations existing within capitalist structures. Oedipus, as a narrative, encapsulates the complex dynamics of desire, repression, and the ongoing analytical struggle to reclaim individual autonomy within societal strictures that regulate personal identities.
Conclusion
Universal History & the Role of Capitalism
The flow of history is intricately shaped by the interplay of decoding, overcoding, and ongoing social restructuring, with capitalism continually redefining these boundaries. The conceptual framework shifts from grounded territorial representations to fluid capitalist ideals, marking an evolutionary path for both desire and social constructs in modern societies.
Directions for Further Study
Investigate how contemporary societies replicate or diverge from the historical constructs outlined in this analysis.
Examine the implications of desire’s repression within modern psychoanalytic practices and its ramifications for societal development and individual psychological health.
